The "Unmelanated" Myth of America

Many of us would probably be better fishermen if we did not spend so much time watching and waiting for the world to become perfect.

(Norman Maclean, “A River Runs Through It and Other Stories”)

I returned recently from Montana and Wyoming, where I hiked in Glacier National Park and Yellowstone, two national treasures I'd not seen before and which represents the very best in public policy legislation in the United States ... at least for the majority of Americans I suspect.

But there was something else besides the state's natural beauty and its wildlife that caught my attention, as my son and I drove from Bozeman, Montana to Glacier National Park near the Canadian border. It was both something seen and something sensed as we traveled toward our destination. It was to me the Caucasian myth (my words) of the discovery of America writ large.

We can thank President Theodore Roosevelt at the turn of the 20^th century for the national park system, but we can also begin with the naturalist John Muir who, in the 1870s, realized that European-Americans (and others) would likely slaughter all the wildlife and possibly harm the region's natural beauty in what is now Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming if an area was not set aside as a “preserve” for every Americans to enjoy in perpetuity.

This—make no mistake about it—is a bone of contention for some Americans, especially among many folks that live in the western states. Even when John Muir raised the issue more than 150 years ago about setting aside wilderness for “public” use (I prefer “Public Trust”), a number of Americans claimed it was, well, sort of un-American. This manifested itself two years ago when Bundy and his white terrorist supporters occupied and trashed the Mahleur Bird Sanctuary in Oregon because the government had “no right” to own the land.

The state of Montana is breath taking in its natural landscape and sheer immensity. It is the 4^th largest state in terms of square miles. At the same time, with approximately one million people, it is the 44^th most populous state. (Wyoming is the second most sparsely populated state). Montana is also the least “black” state in the country.

It is as well the home of the Blackfeet Indian Reservation, some 1.5 million acres located east of Glacier National Park. Montana contains a number of Indian reservations, including the Crow, the Cheyenne, as well as the Little Big Horn Battlefield where General Armstrong Custer, an example of military incompetence and arrogance, met his fate.

Bozeman, Montana, a college town, has a population of some 45,000 people, It is the fourth largest city in the state, upscale, prosperous, diverse—and it's “blue,” at least compared to the very, very conservative state that surrounds it, a not unfamiliar picture in much of what we call “red state” America, the stereotypical city-rural divide and growing wider.

It is when you leave a place like Bozeman that you begin to sense a very different world and perhaps a different time. It is a land of few people but vast space along with a great many cattle, Black Angus being a breed that I saw a lot of. Supposedly there are three head of cattle for every human in

Montana.

There is also poverty, a lot of it from what I could tell. Not the 19^th century “sod buster's” house or the lonely log cabin but a small, rusty looking trailer parked on the side of a hill and perhaps a couple of “ne'er-do-well” vehicles near by. I suspect opiod addiction has also struck rural Montana hard. We passed one broken down shed along the side of the road where on the roof was the word “OPIOD.” On the other side of the roof, which you could see coming from the opposite direction, was the word “DO NOT.”

You see this man? His name is One Stab. He's a venerated elder of the Cree nation. He's counted coup in hundreds of his enemies. He is our friend, and he is thirsty.

(Tristen, in the movie “Legends of the Fall”)

We unmelanated * Americans have been fortunate, in the sense that the United States has not been occupied since the war of 1812 and then only briefly. We have never really been forced to question our essential beliefs, our history or the myths that have guided us for so long. This has now, however, in the present day, become a festering sore that won't go away anytime soon.

The actual Caucasian history of the United States is a story of European genocide, slavery and predatory capitalism. Possibly it was destined to implode all along, at some point. It obviously did not begin with cowboys in Montana, nor the likes of Richard Spencer, a “white” nationalist and apologist for neo-nazis, who happens to be from Montana, a state with perhaps the largest known number of militia groups in the country.

As good a beginning as any would be Christopher Columbus, the European who had the blessing of the Spanish court. We learned in grade school that “Columbus sailed the ocean blue in 1492.” He actually landed in Hispaniola in what is now Haiti and the Dominican Republic.

Columbus met the Taino people in Hispaniola and was impressed by their peacefulness and generosity. But in letters to the king and queen of Spain he remarked about how easy it would be the make them all slaves. “With fifty men, we could subjugate them and make them do whatever we want,” Columbus informed the Spanish court.

Less one think that this attitude was universal at the time, the Chinese in 1405, almost a hundred years before, with an immense armada and traveling in ships far larger than anything the Europeans possessed, began their exploration that lasted some three decades, spanning areas in Africa, the Indian ocean and Southeast Asia.

China did not leave behind the predation, destruction and genocidal intent like the Europeans did. The question is why? This is a story unto itself, but one well worth thinking about, especially in this day and age. For a good beginning read The Patterning Instinct: A Cultural History for Humanity's Search for Meaning by Jeremy Lent. The rest is as they say European history and later European-American history.

The earth is the mother of all people, and all people should have equal rights upon it.

(Chief Joseph, 1879)

The recent Las Vegas shooting where some 59 people were murdered was horrible and the most recent mass gun atrocity in the United States. It has been called the worst mass shooting in American history. It is not by any means, but it says a great deal about our collective historical amnesia and historical literacy.

A few examples: In 1864 the U.S. Cavalry massacred over 500 Cheyenne and Arapaho Indians who were living on their own land in Colorado. In 1873 at least 150 African-Americans were murdered by white supremacists in Colfax, Louisiana. In 1890 300 Lakota Indians were murdered by the U.S. 7^th cavalry at Wounded Knee in South Dakota. There are more examples, including those massacres that occurred in the 20^th century.

The winning of the West, as I have written about before, is one of the greatest unmelanated fairy tales we have. The reality is not all about some goofy“libertarianism,” subduing empty spaces, respecting the land, the wildlife and, oh yeah, the native folks. It is not about doing “without government” or the endless tales of “little house” on the prairie and the survival of all those devout immigrants arriving from Scandinavia. What is most often left out in the usual and insipid Chamber of Commerce speeches is the actual uncensored truth.

Once more:

I see in the near future a crisis approaching that unnerves me and causes me to tremble for the safety of my country.... Corporations have been enthroned and an era of corruption in high places will follow....

(President Abraham Lincoln, 1864)

All eyes turned westward at the end of the Civil War. Time to get rich, save souls and civilize the West. Certainly, an especially egregious brand of Christian evangelism proclaimed that “their book” told then they had dominion over damn near everything, which included the land, the wildlife and of course the “savages.”

What was called the Gilded Age was the beginning of government and corporate collusion on a massive scale. It was about scratching each others back, getting rich any way one could and where the ends always justified the means and where nothing was especially sacred except making more money.

It was an era of imperialism, white supremacy, racism, and the collapse of promises of equality after the Civil War. It was about the deliberate removal and murder of the Indians; it was about the slaughter of wildlife; it was about the disrespect and destruction of the land. It set the stage for the twentieth and twenty-first century and where we have arrived at the present time.

For anyone interested in a detailed account of the age, Railroaded by the historian Richard White is excellent. It is full of facts about the part the railroad played in shaping the West for both good and for bad. It also discusses the cattle barons and the depth of corruption and thuggery they wallowed in and how they still have considerable influence today.

Another excellent book, perhaps less academic than White's book, is Age of Betrayal: The Triumph of Money in America, 1865-1900 by Jack Beatty. To know and understand America today it's important to understand the history of the late 19^th century.

Who currently resides in the White House is for me a national disgrace and represents a seriously dysfunctional country. The president's cabinet with few exceptions are a collection of rich mediocrities and political hacks, including Ryan Zinke the Interior Secretary (now under investigation) and former congressman from Montana. He is no true friend of national parks and wildlife. But so much is at stake and so much to protect and preserve ... text book conservatism I know. Forget your self pity, depression and disillusionment.

In my ideal world I would like to see more land in many western states set aside as national preserves. Sure, I would be happy to have the livestock industry shrink considerably, both for the sake of the environment and the animals being killed, domestic and well as those in the wild. For that matter, I would like to see the Second Amendment amended in order to reflect the reality of the 21^st century, not the 18^th. Oh yes, if Montana gets two senators why can't California get maybe four senators. The difference between 1 million and 39 million is a lot. Yet, what would be the consequences for a state like Montana?

No, the above is not going to happen anytime soon and that is why we have to work with the reality we currently have for the benefit of all of us—like it or not.

Sell a country! Why not sell the air, the great sea, as well as the earth?

(Tecumseh, 1768-1813)

While in Bozeman I bought a book entitled Conservation Heroes of the American Heartland: Rancher, Farmer, Fisherman, by Miriam Horn. It tells the story of five individuals in different parts of the United States, including a rancher near Choteau, Montana where Glacier National Park is located, who have made a commitment to preserve a way of life yet intend to respect and protect an environment challenged by a twenty-first century world.

These are stories about people willing to engage in different points of view, sometimes radically different. It's about a willingness to listen, to learn how to preserve as well as how to live in a rapidly changing world and ultimately have the patience to gather people in small groups to find common ground. No one is claiming it is remotely easy but it is the one thing we all must do.

This is the lesson: We can not wait for some “other” to do it. We can not just “hope” it will get better. It is not as exciting as waving a banner or shouting out slogans. It requires that we ourselves become thoroughly informed or know where to go when we aren't.

Finally, while knowing the past is critical, dwelling in it will keep us there forever. This is the lesson. I want my children and my grandchildren to blink several times when they stare up at the mountain, watch a pack of wolves saunter across the land or see a grizzly stand up on its hind legs....

We reached the old wolf in time to watch a fierce green fire dying in her eyes. I realized then, and have known ever since, that there was something new to me in those eyes—something known only to her and to the mountains.

(Thinking Like a Mountain, by Aldo Leopold)

*NOTE: The word “unmelanated” is not mine, I came across it in an essay by Michael Harriot, a writer for the online magazine The Root. I wish I could say that I had invented it. Melanin is of course dark brown to black pigment occurring in the hair, skin and iris.

The real death eaters: destroying the will to live

GREEN

WARNING: This film shows cruelty to animals.

May we live long and die out.

(The Voluntary Human Extinction Movement)

It's only economics

The unraveling of global capitalism over the past few years has diverted our attention from a great many things. A lot of us, especially in the West, have come to realized that the word “precarious” may not just apply to the images of starving children in some faraway land. An unease has now settled over a good part of the developed world as well.

But what has been flying under the radar, at least in the mainstream media, is the on-going devastation of forests throughout the world and wildlife in general. Part of this increasing destruction is due to the expanding middle class in east Asia.

We should not be surprised that the acquisition of “stuff” is a hallmark of our global economic system along with the insatiable need to demonstrate economic success among individuals, regardless of where they reside.

Let the people speak

Alan Weisman, author of The World Without Us, has suggested that around two billion people is probably the “ideal” human population for the maintenance of a healthy, viable planet. This was the world population near the end of the 19^th century.

While we now have more than 7 billion people on Earth today we could, surprisingly, by the end of the 21^st century theoretically reduce our population by some five billion, if all fertile females had only one child over the next 88 years, according to various demographic studies that have been completed over the past several years.

Clearly this is not likely to happen during the next 100 years for a number of reasons, some all too familiar, but slowing population growth and reducing our levels of consumption are very much in our self-interest and in our ultimate survival as a species.

The rise in the price of ivory has, by some estimates, resulted in nearly one-third of the elephant population in the Cameroons being killed for their tusks. The rhinoceros on the other hand is being butchered because in some parts of Asia ground up rhino tusks are believed to improve sexual potency. Of course, tiger paws have always been considered a delicacy for the well to do and can be found in only the “very best” restaurants.

The video, Green: Death of the Forests, is emotional and difficult to watch. There is no commentary whatsoever. The images of a dying orangutan speak for themselves. We are all responsible.

As a species we are the biggest criminals on the planet. Every day we rape the planet, shed blood and cause suffering.

(Patrick Rouxel, filmmaker)

P.S. In the United States we continue to slaughter wolves for no rational reason … other than we can.

What and where is the sustainable future

Nick Marks, a statistician with the New Economics Foundation, asks us to consider another vision of the future besides one of fear and environmental degradation, a vision, according to Marks, environmentalists have been preaching far too long and which really doesn't work very well if repeated over and over again.

Happiness as a measurement of sustainability

Nick Marks also thinks that using the Gross Domestic Product or GDP as the dominant measurement of progress is one that measures everything except that which makes life worthwhile. He introduces the Happy Planet Index 2.0. Substitute the word “efficiency” for “happy” and you can begin to see that the Index is far more than some feel-good gimmick. The Index is well worth perusing and can be downloaded.

The word sustainable is used a lot today and its definition changeable, but one of the better explanations may be one offered by Paul Raskin of Harvard University and President of Tellus Institute: “It is the passing on of an undiminished world.”

A Little Pollution

Can't stop progress ... the price you have to pay ... corporations are people too ... job growth ... it's not my problem ... the government would collapse ... you want to be poor ... children will adapt ... environmentalists don't understand how business works ... national pride ... the best economic system in the world .. and, a planet of fools....

Why Create Resilient Communities

Chris Hedges, journalist, offered a bleak, personal critique of the American “empire” back on December 28th in New York. His view is that the current system can not be reformed no matter the degree of tentative tinkering we undertake.
The question still remains how we begin the serious creation of new resilient communities, which likely means we will have to confront at some point an increasingly undemocratic status quo. See
http://www.democracynow.org/blog/2009/12/18/chris_hedges Empire of Illusion.

Five Centimeters of Life

We are using up our dirt across the planet, which means we are threatening all life on Earth. In the U.S. alone two acres of dirt disappears every minute of every day. It is not sustainable.

Sleeping with Bots

Daniel Suarez, software engineer and author, gives a fascinating presentation on what is referred to as “Bot-Mediated Reality.”

Bots are software applications that search, retrieve, and act on information. It has a great deal to do with the seemingly inexorable drive to efficiency, which likely means fewer people making decisions. Will we humans lose more and more control?

The implications are significant. There are plenty of reasons to believe that our traditional institutional structures are not capable of adapting to the changes? See
http://fora.tv/2008/08/08/Daniel_Suarez_Daemon_Bot-Mediated_Reality Changing Reality

It's Your Money

Give some serious thought to "moving it" in 2010

Free Virtual School

As we move away from the old societal structures, how we learn and process information is likely going to change. The one shoe fits all approach will give way to a more diverse learning model, especially as education will truly become a necessary lifetime endeavor.

One of the more interesting approaches I've come across is The Kahn Academy, a not-for-profit organization with its mission “of providing a high quality education to anyone, anywhere.” With over 1,000 videos, covering everything from basic arithmetic to evolutionary biology, The Kahn Academy provides a virtual and free education across the globe. This site is definitely worth visiting. You can look through the various videos. Go to http://www.khanacademy.org/ The Kahn Academy.

Saving $14 Billion

So how much food could the average person grow within 100 square feet? What if millions of individuals got rid of those drug addicted lawns and planted gardens instead? For a really interesting article go to
http://www.motherearthnews.com/Organic-Gardening/Square-Foot-Gardening-Food.aspx?utm_content=12.04.09+FG&utm_campaign=FG&utm_source=iPost&utm_medium=email  Grow $700 of Food in 100 Square Feet!

Sustainability & Local Government

ICLEI-Local Government for Sustainability has issued its 2009 report. This is an association of local governments focusing on climate protection and sustainable development. There are 600 members in the United States. How has your region done? How has your city done? See http://www.icleiusa.org/action-center/affecting-policy/ICLEI%20USA%20Measuring%20Up%20Report%202009.pdf 2009 Annual Report

Some Farming Visionary (2)

How can we fit in and survive within the natural world?

Some Farming Visionary (1)

How does critical thinking, observation, and common sense start the process of change? Watch this video.

Color World None

Could we really do it? I think we could. I saw the movie The Road on “Black Friday,” an adaptation of Cormac McCarthy's novel, who also wrote No Country for Old Men. I'll leave it to the literary and film critics to analyze and dissect the film. This movie is about a lot of things but most important it is about a dying planet, in the literal sense.

While not specified in the novel or the movie we humans, in numerous ways, decided our world was not sacred nor was sustainability an important priority. The film will undoubtedly elicit a range of feelings among the moviegoers, but one of mine was anger. We humans are the supreme dysfunctional narcissists.

In The Road there are no plants remaining, trees are dying and falling over, and all the animals have gone. No, life cannot continue without the prosaic carbon cycle. Some will say that we could conceivably regulate the carbon cycle artificially, food could be synthesized using genetic engineering, and terraforming of the moon, asteroids, and even Mars might be possible someday. Should we start now, just in case?

The movie turns the whole idea of the “glorious” revolution and “rights” into a final, very black comedy. On the Left, workers of the world are not going to unite and sing The Internationale; on the Right, all the stupid guns will run out of bullets and all the silly camouflage uniforms will simply rot away. Now imagine the last dying gasp of an unpleasant species--cannibalism.

As I grow older I find religious fundamentalism of all varieties increasingly repugnant. A collection of death cults conjured up in feverish imaginations during the late Bronze and early Iron Age. For some it is a trip to magic kingdom, for others “may you rot in hell,” wherever that is. But for all, don't worry about planet Earth or all the non-human life, for the Entity will forgive your transgressions, just plead your case only a little. Now that ethereal view is truly a license to kill, maim, and slaughter.

We know the carnage the developed world has wrought upon our planet, but the developing world is anxious to catch up. China is working hard to possibly be the worst plunderer of natural resources in human history, Brazil rationalizes on a daily basis why just one more acre of the rainforest can be cut down for cattle ranches and soybean plantations, and India announces with pride that it now has an inexpensive internal combustion engine for the masses. No longer are those awful bicycles needed.

I'll take the sunset dipping over a wine-dark sea, a hawk nesting in a city skyscraper, a wolf howling to the moon, a whale leaping high into the air, and a child smiling with pure delight while examining the earthworm at his or her feet.

This earthly world is really worth “protecting.” The question should never be why. Now is the time to be working hard to create resilient communities that connect with everything and everyone in some way.

Only a Return

Within the next three weeks I'll be posting articles on my Sanctuary blog, which I started back in 2004 and stopped in August 2007, in order to write Earth Notes, an environmental and sustainability blog with the Kansas City Star.

Two plus years however is long enough and it's time to do something else. Earth Notes will simply cease to exist.

So what will I do with Sanctuary? For the time being I'll focus on the broad area of sustainability. Much has changed in the world and certainly in the U.S. over the past two years. How do we go about creating a sustainable world, sustainable countries, sustainable cities, and sustainable communities in the 21st century? Could we all be embarking on something brand new?

I'd certainly like to post original articles from other writers on sustainability issues, ideas both big and small, keeping the posts to 300 words maximum. Comments are of course always welcomed. We'll see what happens.